Face of the future? Avatars could care for the elderly in their own homes (Picture: AP)

Elderly people could be cared for in their own homes by electronic avatars to help them live independently.

The avatar could appear as a figure on a television screen, a tablet computer or as a hologram and would be able to detect whether people are in pain and alert the emergency services, researchers claim.

Heart rate and blood pressure could be monitored by the avatar and it would remind people to take medication. It would also be capable of knowing if someone had fallen over or was in pain, according to the University of Kent.

A spokesman for the university also said the avatar could potentially analyse a person’s speech, movement and facial expression to detect mood and formulate an appropriate response.

The university is taking a leading role in the project to support the UK’s ageing population. The avatar system – known as Responsive InTeractive Advocate (Rita) – would not need computer literacy and would be no more challenging than switching on a television, the spokesman added.

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The project is being headed by Kent’s Centre for Child Protection and has won a share of £2.4 million in funding from the Technology Strategy Board (TSB).

It is one of six aimed at developing new cost-effective ways of helping elderly people to continue to live comfortably and independently in their own homes.